Two newcomers bolster BAA's top team

Airports operator BAA yesterday moved to strengthen its top management team with two appointments to its executive committee.

Tom Kelly, formerly an official spokesman for Tony Blair when he was prime minister, has been appointed group director of corporate affairs and Fiona Rodford joins from Alliance & Leicester as human resources director.

The appointments will be a welcome boost to BAA which has been hit by several departures this year, including Heathrow director Tony Douglas, and Donal Dowds, director of safety, security and services. This month the company announced that its chief operating officer, Stephen Baxter, was leaving.

Stephen Nelson, chief executive at BAA, which owns seven British airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, said the new recruits would "bring considerable strengths to the new BAA management team at one of the most important points in the company's development".

BAA is under pressure to cut queues at Heathrow and Gatwick, and faces proposals from the regulator, the CAA, to cut its return on capital at the two airports.

Ferrovial, the Spanish company that acquired BAA for about £10bn last year, has said the proposals could affect plans to refinance BAA's debts. The Competition Commission is also investigating the provision of airport services in Britain, which could force BAA to sell assets.

Mr Kelly, a former BBC journalist, left Downing Street with Mr Blair in June and takes up his new post on November 5. A former communications director at the Northern Ireland Office, where he worked closely with Mr Blair on the peace process, Mr Kelly is regarded as a safe pair of hands - though in 2003 he was forced to apologise to the family of Dr David Kelly over a remark in a background briefing.

Ms Rodford, who has been at Alliance & Leicester for four years, has previously worked for House of Fraser, Whitbread, Booker and Thomas Cook.